A by-the-numbers look at teacher vs. administrator ratios

The picture that emerges from a look at the staffing practices of Florida universities in the past five years is complex. Like universities across the nation, Florida schools have been beset by budget cuts. And like schools nationally, the schools have limited tenure-track faculty positions and turned more to part timers and adjunct professors to control costs. But most schools, both nationally and in Florida, have hired administrators at a much faster clip than enrollment growth. This report looks at the trends — and explanations.

TRENDLess Tenure Since 2007, enrollment at Florida’s state universities has grown 9.5% to 329,737. During the same period, the universities added very few tenured professors and reduced the number of junior professors working toward tenure by 19%. Collectively, tenured and tenure-track faculty make up 25% of the university total, down from 27% five years ago and 33% in 2004.

Source: Based on Board of Governors staff analysis of IPEDS full-time, tenured faculty (includes medical and non-medical staff involved with instruction) and administrative data and State University Database System (SUDS) student data

TRENDIncreasing Student-Faculty Ratios Only the use of contingent faculty has kept student/faculty ratios from eroding dramatically. Overall, the public universities in Florida report a 25.1 student/faculty ratio, up from 23.9 five years earlier, though the ratio varies greatly by institution. Ratios across the system soar when just tenured faculty are counted.